To Be or Not To Be is Always the Question
by Rinaula
Summary: The Marauders have always goofed off and pulled pranks.How they got top marks in almost all their classes will always be a mystery. But when James Potter falls for a fiery greeneyed Ravenclaw,will he be able to stop pulling these ridiculous pranks and win


**To Be or Not to Be Is Always the Question**

**By: Yours Truly (that would be me durr)**

**Chapter 1: Mud**

James Potter and Sirius Black were late.

Really REALLY late.

Today was September the first and James and Sirius were scrambling around for any lose possessions they might have forgotten to pack into their trunks the night before. They should have left for the station five minutes ago! Unfortunately, James and Sirius had stayed up late playing Exploding Snap the night before even though Mrs.Potter came into James's room to scold them twice.

James ran into his room and picked a pile of clothes up off of the floor. Underneath the mountain of clothes lay Sirius's Potions book.

"PADFOOT! I FOUND IT!" James bellowed grabbing the book and bolting out of the room. "Bloody hell! Eight minutes 'til the train leaves!" James shouted jumping on the banister and sliding down the stairs to the ground floor of the Potter's house. A "Language James!" could be heard from over by the fireplace where Mr. & Mrs.Potter stood chuckling yet looking rather annoyed at being late.

"OI PRONGS! I found your cloak!" Sirius shouted now also jumping on the banister from the third floor of the massive house.

"Have you got everything now boys?" asked Mrs.Potter not waiting for a reply before continuing, "If you've forgotten anything I'll owl it to you at school. Oh honestly boys, I'll be surprised if the train didn't leave without you," Mrs.Potter ranted taking the floo powder her husband offered her. James and Sirius just rolled their eyes.

"Sirius, you got the map?" James whispered to his best friend as he was passed the floo powder. Sirius smiled and nodded.

"It's in my trunk," he whispered back taking the floo powder from James. James smiled back disappearing in a whoosh of emerald flames as his mum had seconds before with James's trunk. Sirius was next and Mr.Potter followed with Sirius's trunk shouting, "Platform nine and three-quarters!"

Sirius and James had three minutes left to say good-bye to Mr. & Mrs.Potter and drag their trunks onto the crimson Hogwarts train.

"We'll see you two next summer!" Mrs.Potter shouted after the boy's retreating backs.

The two boys in question spun around and Sirius bellowed, "Thanks again for letting me stay Mrs.P!" Mrs.Potter rolled her eyes at the nickname.

The two boys laughed and hurried onto the train. The whistles were blown as soon as they shut the door.

"Let's hope Moony saved us a compartment," James said amidst the hustle and bustle of people still getting settled into their compartments.

As soon as the words left his mouth James spotted the boy in question leaning out of a compartment up ahead waving at James and Sirius frantically trying to get their attention. James nudged Sirius and the two started making their way to their fellow Marauder and fifth-year.  
"What took you so long to get here? I didn't see you two on the platform," Remus Lupin asked looking slightly worried.

"Prongsie here overslept," Sirius claimed poking James in the shoulder.

"You lay the blame on me? ME!" James shrieked putting his hand over his heart with mock surprise on his face, "why Padfoot. I am hurt! We both know it was you who overslept!"

"Was not!" came Sirius's reply from within the compartment.

"Was too!" James said following him inside with his trunk. Remus slid the door shut and chuckled.

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yea-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!

"Yea- EVANS!" James yelled startled going a brilliant shade of red.

Standing in the doorway was a red-haired, green-eyed, goddess…in James's opinion anyway. James wasn't very aware that he had actually started drooling slightly.

Lily Evans, a fifth-year Ravenclaw, stood in the doorway to the Marauder's compartment hands on hips and eyebrows raised.

"Ooooookay…" Lily said slowly. When she caught site of James's face she nearly wet herself. He looked so hilarious! His face was almost as red as her hair and he seemed to be….drooling?

"Hello Lily," Remus greeted the redhead merrily, his back turned to James knowing full well that if he looked at James he would not be able to stop laughing for a very long time.

"Hey Remus," Lily replied shaking her head at James who still had a look of initial shock on his face at being caught bickering like a five-year-old with his best friend (not because they were angry at each other, but because it was fun). She watched as the shock faded but his face was still a very brilliant shade of red.

"You alright there mate?" Sirius asked concerned because his friend did indeed seem to be turning into a tomato.

"Fine, fine. Hello Evans," James said his face starting to fade back into it's original color.

"Potter," Lily nodded at him turning back to Remus, "Anyway Remus I was looking for you to tell you we have a prefects meeting in about," she checked her watch, "five minutes."

"Oh. Alright then. I guess we better go. I dunno who the Heads are this year, but lets hope they're not too cranky," Remus laughed sourly remembering how one of his now sixth-year friends had been thirty seconds late for their first prefects meeting and almost got hexed by the Head Girl.  
Lily seemed to be thinking along the same lines because she was slightly frowning and turned to Remus.

"Lets go," she said hastily grabbing Remus's wrist and pulling him out of the compartment.

"I'll see you guys later," was all Remus managed to say before he was dragged out of the compartment by Lily Evans.

As soon as they were out of sight and earshot Sirius turned to James with a look of mingled surprise and terror.

"You…were…BLUSHING!" Sirius half-yelled half-whispered. (If that's even possible).

"N-no! No, of course I wasn't!" James spluttered staring at Sirius horrorstruck, "I NEVER blush!"

James looked so panicked that Sirius couldn't help but laugh at his friend.

"Sirius! This is NOT funny!" James yelled smacking his friend upside the head. James could sometimes be such a drama queen…but then…so could Sirius…

"Ouch! Jeez! What the bloody hell was that for? Just because ickle Jamsie-poo blushed when ickle Lily-bug walked in doesn't mean he has to hit poor Sirius on the head," Sirius said indignantly rubbing the spot where James had hit him.

"One, Padfoot, what the devil is with the names? An two, I do not blush! EVER! You and I both know it's true!" James said going into a rant he could barely understand a word of.

Sirius didn't even bother trying to decipher what James was saying. Thought popped into Sirius's head all of a sudden.

"James?" Sirius asked.

"…never! Impossible!" James kept on ranting.

"This is lunacy! Absolute lunacy!" James continued as if Sirius hadn't said a thing.

"Oi prongs! It's Evans!" Sirius yelled in hopes of getting James's attention.

"What? Where!" James asked red in the face again( either from lack of breathing during his rant…or as Sirius suspected , at hearing Lily's name).

"Sorry to burst your bubble, James, but Evans isn't here and you're blushing again," trying to keep his face straight but smiling slightly at James's disbelief.

"I am NOT" James yelled.

Sirius sighed and conjured him a mirror. James looked at his reflection. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be.  
James Potter never blushed when he was around girls or anyone for that matter. What the bloody hell was happening to him? He was going bloody soft! Whenever he was around that girl he couldn't think straight! James looked at his best friend. Sirius was sitting there grinning like a madman with a devilish glint in his eyes and an I-told-you-so-look on his face.

"Looks like ickle little Jamsie-poo has a crush on ickle little Lily-bug," Sirius laughed.

"Oh sod off you great prat! Just because I blushed doesn't mean I like her," James finished lamely knowing full well that Sirius was right.  
She was perfect. The way she smiled. The way she flipped her hair.

"Aha! So you admit! You like Evans!" Sirius said pointing an accusing finger at Sirius.

The way she walked. Hell! Even the way she glared at him was perfect!

"Oi! Lover boy," Sirius said waving a hand in front of James's face, "snap out of it."

"What I really wanted to ask you was if you've seen Peter anywhere. I haven't seen him all day," Sirius said thinking of where their runt of a friend had got off to now.

"Well…there's no way he's at the Prefect's meeting…," James said, now also lost in thought.

"Five sickles says he got hexed by Snape and went to the nurses office," Sirius said smiling mischievously.

"You're on," James replied, flashing him and identically mischievous smile while shaking his hand.

Peter, it turns out, had not been able to find them and had ventured into Slytherin compartments unaware of where he had wondered, and had indeed been hexed by Snape (who's compartment he had intruded on).

James had grudgingly handed over the five sickles as he, Sirius, Remus, and a healed Peter (who had been released from the nurses office at the front of the train ten minutes before their arrival to Hogwarts and had been spotted and led to the Marauder's compartment by Remus who had been patrolling) made their way to a carriage.

Sirius jingled the money in his hand before stuffing it in the pocket of his robes and hopping jumping into the nearest empty carriage followed by his three soaking friends.

It had been raining the whole way to Hogwarts and seemed to get worse every minute that passed as the got ever closer to their massive school. Sheets of rain had poured down on their heads as soon as they had gotten off the Hogwarts Express. It was like having a self-filling bucket of icy cold water poured on your head.

The carriage ride to Hogwarts castle was bumpy and cold. Other than that it was alright considering that everyone in the carriages were so frozen that even the Marauders were attempting to cast charms on themselves. There was really no point to it since they got twice as wet as before as soon as the stepped out of the carriages and into the mud.

Students were attempting to hold robes over their heads and slip and slide as fast as they could to the castle doors, but to no avail. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were slipping and sliding their way towards the castle. Slowly…but they were making progress…that is until Lucius Malfoy, Severus Snape, and the rest of their Slytherin gang pushed them into an enormous puddle of thick, brown, gooey mud as they were passing by.

Being the ever infamous Murauders though, they wouldn't take this sitting down…er…laying down in their case…The four of them simultaneously grabbed handfuls of mud and chucked them at the Slytherins, wiping the smirks right off their faces. One particularly large handful, cast by none other than Sirius Black, splattered all over Malfoy's face.

The Slytherins charged at the Gryffindors sitting in the mud (still chucking handfuls of it at them), ready to tackle, but as soon as they lunged the Marauders jumped out of harms way causing the Slytherins to slide right into the mud (head first mind you) making them look just as bad, if not worse than the Gryffindors.

The rain however, still refusing to cease and desist (A/N is that right?) ended up washing most of the mud off the students by the time they entered the castle (even though James and Sirius had been charming balls of mud to follow students and splatter all over them. Most of those students being Slytherins of course).

The Marauders, happy about their revenge on the Slytherins, walked into the Entrance Hall still caked in mud. As they passed by an angry looking McGonagall they all gave her the most charming smiles they could muster. Sirius even went as far as to run up to Professor McGonagall, give her a great, big, wet, muddy hug, tell her he'd been thinking about her the whole summer and couldn't wait 'til his first Transfiguration lesson, and run past his friends and into the Great Hall to get away from Professor McGonagall's wrath.

Sirius however was lucky because McGonagall had to go round up the first years and walked off briskly, now dripping wet and muddy. As she walked briskly past the remaining three Marauders (Sirius was still cowering in the Great Hall under one of the tables) Remus distinctly (seeing as he has heightened senses) heard McGonagall say, "Every year," as she rolled her eyes.

Remus, James, and Peter all busted out laughing at Sirius's performance and walked into the Great Hall, along with many soaking students. The ones that managed to get dry didn't stay that way for long because of all the hungry students pushing and shoving their way into the Great Hall to the sorting of the first-years. But most important…

DINNER!

(Author's Note) Hey everyone…I decided to start this here ficcy…well…I'm gonna try to get chapter 2 done and uploaded and when I do I want y'all to tell me if it's worth continuing. Lemme know what you think so far! REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! 8D

Later,  
Me


End file.
